Judge's Fireworks Ban
Sparks
Feud With Pyrotechnics Lobby

CANYON, Texas -- Randall County Judge Ted Wood thought banning fireworks sales for this Fourth of July was a reasonable move.

After all, the Texas Panhandle and the Southwest are suffering through a withering drought that has sparked wildfires, devastated crops and triggered smoking bans at national parks. Amid such tinder-dry conditions, the 35-year-old first-term judge decided that it was his civic duty to protect his 11,000...